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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23764549">You Belong With Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindredspiritsxo/pseuds/kindredspiritsxo'>kindredspiritsxo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, High School, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:01:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,274</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23764549</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindredspiritsxo/pseuds/kindredspiritsxo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“she’s cheer captain and i’m on the bleachers.”</p><p>in which gina porter is captain of east high’s varsity cheer team and ricky bowen is the school’s resident outsider. he always saw her but she never saw him. that was, until the both of them found themselves in school’s parking lot two days before their senior year.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>E.J. Caswell &amp; Carlos Rodriguez, Ricky Bowen &amp; Gina Porter, Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>45</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello!! had to do this for my rinas &lt;3 idk how many chapters this is going to be, it’ll be ongoing for a while!</p><p>tw//there will be minor drug use!</p><p>this fic will have nothing to do with musicals or anything of that sort, it’s just going to be cheerleader!gina &amp; outsider!ricky going through senior year. also i will introduce all the other characters in the coming chapters, this is just an intro!!</p><p>enjoy! :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It started freshman year. </p><p>Freshman year was when Gina Porter transferred to East High School from a small town in Oregon. Almost immediately, due to her strong personality and her sweet smile, she gained everyone's attention and was able to quickly and easily make friends.</p><p>After a week of being at East High, Gina decided to try out for the junior varsity cheerleading team. With only having a background in dance, and despite never having cheered before, she somehow made the varsity cheerleading team at East High. She took that newfound status and ran with it by becoming friends with all the upperclassmen on the team, going to all of the junior/senior parties and then became a name that everyone knew. </p><p>Ricky Bowen had lived in Salt Lake City his whole life, and throughout the entire duration of his time in the East Central School District, he made a total of two friends. Not that he wanted to be popular or have tons of friends, he just never got the opportunity to make any. That and he couldn't care less about making friends.</p><p>He was considered an "outsider" to the students at East High. Everyone knew of him but they didn't really care about his presence. He didn't do much around the school, he wasn't in any clubs or wasn't a master at any subject in school, he was just <em>there</em>. The only thing that Ricky did that was school related was attend East High's football games. </p><p>Why? Well, his main reasoning is that he's supporting his best friend, EJ Caswell, who has been on the varsity football team since his freshman year. But, the other reason is to see <em>her</em>.</p><p>The first time Ricky saw her was when she stumbled confidently into his first period English class freshman year. He had never seen her before, but she immediately caught his eye in that moment. She was wearing a white dress with a sunflower pattern all over it and wore her hair in a neat bun. </p><p>What made it even better was that halfway through the period when Ms. Connors was lecturing on about how passing 9th grade English was so-very important, Gina raised her hand up high. Once the teacher called on her, she flashed that sweet smile and said:</p><p>
  <em> "This isn't Advanced English?" </em>
</p><p>While all the other kids laughed, Ricky noticed how she didn't even let those rude kids bother her— she didn't bat an eyelash at them whereas Ricky would probably turn into a tomato if kids laughed at him like that.</p><p>After Ms. Connors politely said that she was in the wrong class, she got up and left as if nothing happened. And ever since, Ricky couldn't get her out of his head.</p><p>Then when EJ, one half of Ricky's friends, made the football team that same year, Ricky made it a point to come to every home game to support his friend. Of course, he was accompanied by the other half of his friends, Big Red. The two boys never really understood the game of football, no matter how many times EJ tried to explain it to them. So, for Ricky, what made going to all of those games better was getting to see Gina while she cheered.</p><p>As the years went on, Gina became more and more well known to the students of East High. Her sophomore year, she became cheer captain— much to the upperclassmen's dismay. Ever since, Ricky always overheard the other girls on the team complaining about how Gina didn't deserve the title because she was only a sophomore.</p><p>Junior year she led the team to Nationals— only to get snagged from the championship from a school in southern Florida. But, it was still a huge accomplishment for Gina. </p><p>That same year, at the end of one of EJ's football games, Ricky ran right into Gina on accident, causing him to spill his drink all over his white shirt. While some of her friends snickered quietly and Ricky contemplated running away, Gina picked up his empty cup from the ground, threw it in the trash and then gave him a small smile. Before she could say anything to the embarrassed curly-haired boy, she heard someone call her name— Rico.</p><p>Rico became Gina's boyfriend in the beginning of junior year. He asked her out during the first football game of the season. Rico was a senior and was the captain of the football team while Gina was head cheerleader— they're perfect for each other. Right?</p><p>When Rico interrupted Gina from saying something to him that night, Ricky basically ran away back to his best friend and never wanted to be near Gina again— it was <em>that</em> embarrassing, especially the part where he yelled <em>"fuck—"</em> without realizing who he had ran into.</p><p>Flash forward to now, two nights before the first day of their senior year, when Ricky got into a huge argument with his father. Ricky hadn’t called his mother for two months, and his father had just found out.</p><p>He knew what was happening with his parents, though he didn’t want to admit it. The three of them all danced around the fact that they needed to get a divorce. Ricky’s mom had been living in Chicago for the past two months. It started as a two week “business trip”, which was complete bullshit in his eyes, but Ricky let them believe that he actually believed it. </p><p>He was mad at the world and at his parents. He just couldn’t wrap his head around why they couldn’t be a happy family and where it all went wrong. So that night, when his father confronted him on why he hadn’t called his mother for two months, Ricky exploded.</p><p>He told his father what bullshit it was that they kept lying to him and to each other. They hadn’t been a family for <em>years</em>, so what’s a phone call a week going to matter?</p><p>With that, Ricky grabbed the car keys and left. It was about 10:00 at night and he just needed to get away. So he drove around town mindlessly for about a half an hour and then landed himself in the parking lot of East High. He didn’t know why, but the parking lot was empty and the sky was clear. </p><p>He got out of his car and laid down on the cool pavement, trying to calm himself down by looking up at the stars and feeling the cool summer breeze on his skin. He couldn’t take it for much longer when his mind wandered to the blunts that he forgot he had in his backseat. </p><p>He quickly hopped up from the ground and opened his back door, rummaging through the absolute mess that was his backseat until he finally found the crumpled old plastic sandwich bag that contained two blunts. </p><p>He sighed in triumph, grabbing one and then closing his car door. He patted his pockets for a lighter and finally found one. Just as he was about to light one, he heard a car door slam around the front entrance of the school. He looked up, seeing a girl outside of a black truck, yelling at the driver. Ricky couldn’t hear much, but it sounded like heavy arguing, and then he saw the truck speed away leaving the girl stranded.</p><p>He furrowed his eyebrows as he saw the girl sit down on the curb, stuffing her face in her hands. Ricky bit down on his lower lip, nervousness bubbling in his chest. What should he do? Should he go over there and see if they’re alright?</p><p>He looked around. There was no one else in sight and he doubted that this girl had a way home.</p><p>So Ricky started walking towards the front entrance of the school, practically dragging himself over there. He would’ve felt horribly if he had just left the girl here alone without even trying to see if she was alright. He felt anxiety rushing through his veins as he finally neared the girl, seeing as it looked and sounded like she was crying.</p><p>Ricky wanted to turn away, not knowing a single way in hell how to comfort anyone—let alone a girl he barely knew. Once he finally approached her, he waited for a moment to see if she would look up at him. When she didn’t, he felt even worse because how creepy was this? He’s standing right there and not saying anything.</p><p>Ricky closed his eyes, with his heart beating out of his chest. He cleared his throat, then said, “Excuse me, miss, are you alright?”</p><p>He then opened his eyes to see that the girl was quickly wiping her face with the sleeves of her oversized hoodie. He felt extremely bad and awkward that he had interrupted her in such a vulnerable moment. He brought his hand up to the back of his neck, feeling his cheeks start to burn, “Or, um, I could leave… If you want.”</p><p>That’s when she looked up at him, her eyes puffy from crying and her curls sticking to her tear-stained cheeks. <em>It was Gina Porter.</em></p><p>“Holy shit.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Holy shit."</p><p>There are times in someone's life where certain things should be not said or even thought out loud. Ricky definitely wasn't thinking as those two words stumbled out of his mouth while he was in a state of complete shock.</p><p>It was 11pm on a Monday and out of any girl crying within a 50 mile vicinity of Salt Lake City, it just <em>had</em> to be Gina Porter. The same girl that he had been completely infatuated with for the past three years and counting. To say this whole situation was embarrassing was an understatement.</p><p>She was looking up at him with red eyes, trying to come up with a good excuse as to why she was sitting there, crying her eyes out. She studied his face for a moment, suddenly recognizing him from school, "You're Ricky Bowen."</p><p>His lips parted, not expecting her to know who he was— he had grown used to no one knowing who he was. And the sound of his name coming from her lips was something that he didn't know he needed to hear. He didn't realize he had been staring at her, not saying anything until she spoke again, "Right?"</p><p>He swallowed, nodding his head quickly, "Uh, yeah, that's me."</p><p>Gina nodded her head slowly, letting down a deep breath, "I'm Gi—"</p><p>"Gina Porter. Yeah, I know." Ricky cut her off, adverting his eyes to the ground at the beat up, black vans that were on his feet.</p><p>She furrowed her eyebrows, biting down on her lip and looked down at her hands. Truthfully, she didn't know what to say. There couldn't have been a worse time for him to come up and talk to her, she had just gotten done crying and looked like complete hell.</p><p>Ricky nervously fiddled with the blunt and lighter in his hand, looking anywhere but at the girl in front of him. Then, his eyes flicked to the girl sitting on the curb and he sighed audibly, "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt anything. I can leave, if you want..."</p><p>Gina felt bad. <em>Of course</em> she wanted him to leave— it's embarrassing enough that he most likely overhead the argument she was in and she had just gotten done crying but, after all, he was only trying to help her in the first place.</p><p>"No. You can stay." She said softly, shaking her head.</p><p>Ricky stared at her for a moment in complete surprise, that was the answer that he was least expecting. He nodded his head slowly, processing the information, then clearing his throat and sat next to her on the curb. He could feel his heart beating a while a minute and anxiety flowing through his body.</p><p>Gina felt strange to be in this position with a boy she had basically just met. She knew of Ricky Bowen and his reputation around school for being a stoner, and she even knew he was best friends with EJ Caswell. But, even though they were in the same grade for the past three years, they had never introduced themselves to each other. She always saw him around school, in the hallways and recalls that they even had a study hall together last year.</p><p>Ricky was freaking out beside her. How did he get here?</p><p>The two of them sat with a small gap between them in silence. Ricky focused on his dirty shoe laces as he felt the silence suffocating him. He had no idea what to say to her— he always thought about talking to her but not that night, while she was crying in front of the school for some reason. By the way, why was she crying? What went down that made that person leave her stranded at the school?</p><p>"So," Gina started, "What are you doing here on a Monday night?"</p><p>Ricky looked over at her, both of their brown eyes locking for a moment, "I could ask you the same thing."</p><p>Gina felt herself smile slightly as she looked back at him, until he looked away quickly. She furrowed her eyebrows, watching him carefully as he fiddled with whatever was in his hand. Was he always this nervous?</p><p>"So, uh," He cleared his throat, "Do you need a ride home?"</p><p>"Um, I can just call my friend Nini... It's not a big deal." Gina replied, reaching to grab her phone from her hoodie pocket. As she went to grab her phone, she realized it wasn't in her pocket. She patted her hoodie down a few times before groaning, "Shit." She muttered.</p><p>Ricky looked over at her, raising his eyebrows.</p><p>"I left my phone with—" She started explaining, but stopped herself mid-sentence, "You know, that ride home sounds pretty good to me."</p><p>Ricky nodded his head, standing up from the curb and stuffed his lighter and blunt in his pocket. Silently, the girl followed his actions and they started walking through the empty parking lot to his car. Once they made it to his car, Ricky widened his eyes as he looked in at his passenger seat and muttered, <em>"Fuck."</em></p><p>Gina was already waiting at the passenger patiently waiting for him to unlock the car. Ricky looked over at her, "Give me a second, please."</p><p>She nodded as he got in the front seat and started clearing the mess that was on the floor. He had an immense amount of wrappers, receipts, a few lighters, and napkins. He took as much as he could and threw it in the backseat, adding to the mess back there, "Ricky, you fucking <em>idiot</em>, you couldn't have cleaned your car yesterday?" He whispered angrily to himself. </p><p>He cleared as much of the disaster as he could, and then got out of the vehicle, breathing heavily, "You can get in now."</p><p>Gina obliged and opened the door, her eyes scanning the interior for a quick moment before she got in. The first thing she noticed was the smell. It smelled heavily of marijuana and boy? That was the best way she could describe it. Not to mention, despite his quick clean, her feet were touching some old wrappers and there were some half empty pop cans sitting in the cup holders.</p><p>Once Ricky got in the car, she noticed how his cheeks were a deep shade of red, "Sorry, I wasn't really expecting any guests."</p><p>She smiled slightly at him, knowing how embarrassed he was, "It's fine, I don't mind."</p><p>Ricky pressed his lips into a thin line, reaching for his keys in his hoodie pocket. As he pulled out his keys, his lighter and blunt fell out onto his lap. He grabbed them, opening his center counsel and threw them in there. As he closed it, he caught Gina's eyes.</p><p>"You were planning on lighting up on school property?"</p><p>Ricky swallowed, "Well, yeah..." </p><p>Gina nodded her head slowly, looking out the passenger seat window. Ricky wasn't sure how to respond so he started the car and, with his luck, the stereo blasted some type of hard metal music that Gina had never heard, scaring the daylight out of both of the teenagers.</p><p>Ricky scrambled and turned his radio off, "Shit—sorry."</p><p>He never normally listened to heavy metal except when he was angry and needed to drown out his thoughts. That night, he needed to get his mind off of everything. </p><p>When Gina didn't respond, he took that as the cue to start leaving. He pulled out of the parking spot that he wasn't even parked in, and then drove over to the front entrance. Once he came to a stop, he glanced over to Gina, waiting for her to tell him which direction he should go.</p><p>"Oh, turn right."</p><p>They drove in silence for a while, every so often Gina would tell him where to turn. It was all too strange, the air between them, being complete strangers in a weird situation that put them together. Ricky couldn’t believe any of it, how he went from screaming at his father to driving Gina Porter home.</p><p>He always watched her, but not in a creepy way, in a wow- you’re intriguing kind of way. In the halls while she talked with her friends or with her boyfriend, while she told her speeches during pep rallies, and while she cheered. Everything she did seemed so effortless and it all was so amazing to Ricky.</p><p>His mind wandered to why she was crying in East High’s parking lot. Was she fighting with her boyfriend?</p><p>“Um, are you ready for school on Thursday?” Gina’s voice cut through his thoughts.</p><p>Ricky inhaled sharply, “Senior year— kinda crazy.”</p><p>Gina looked over at him, wondering how she’s never talked to him, he doesn’t seem that bad. Some of her friends have voiced their opinion on him but she never knew whether or not to believe it.</p><p>“Yeah, I know. I can’t believe that it’s already here.” She adverted her attention to the road in front of them, thinking of everything she had going on once they got back to school, “Turn here.”</p><p>Ricky turned onto her street, driving a little slower now. It was an older neighborhood, with slightly older houses. Gina pointed out her house and he pulled into the driveway, putting the car in park.</p><p>He looked at the house. It was a small ranch house, with a small yard and an even smaller driveway. There was a single car in the driveway and all of the lights were off in the house. He didn’t know why but he wasn’t surprised by this, he didn’t expect Gina to live this big extravagant life but it made <em>sense</em>. It suited her.</p><p>He turned to her and sent an awkward smile in her direction. She mirrored the same expression, not really knowing what else to say to him, “Well, thank you for the ride.”</p><p>He nodded his head, “No problem.”</p><p>She smiled again, opening the door and getting out of the car. She turned back to him, “Goodnight, Ricky. See you at school?”</p><p>He smiled shyly back at her, “Yeah. Goodnight, Gina.”</p><p>And with that, she shut the car door and left. Ricky waited until she was inside to leave. When he did leave, he drove in silence with his thoughts on high volume. He couldn’t stop thinking about the events of that night.</p><p>Will they even interact in school? Will Gina completely forget that this happened? Will Ricky go back to watching her from the bleachers?</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>this was pretty much to get the story going! i didn’t want to make this chapter too long but let me know what u think!!</p><p>hope u liked it :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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